UAE's Aldar Properties eyes mid-income market with $354 mln project

Reuters Staff

2 Min Read

ABU DHABI, April 17 (Reuters) - Aldar Properties, the largest developer in Abu Dhabi, is betting on the middle income segment with a new project to boost revenues in a depressed real estate market. The move from the state-linked builder of Abu Dhabi’s Formula One circuit came as property values and rentals have both fallen due to the economic hit from a sharp drop in oil prices in 2014.

Aldar on Monday launched a 1.3 billion dirhams ($354 million) mid-market residential project that will build 1,272 units ahead of the emirate’s real estate show that begins on Tuesday.

Prices will start from 450,000 dirhams with eight different types of units including studios, one, two and three bedroom apartments.

Aldar’s chairman Abubaker Seddiq al Khoori said the mid-income population of Abu Dhabi comprises around 40 to 60 percent of the total population with a very low percentage of them owning property.

Aldar which reported flat fourth quarter 2016 profits, said in February it expects lower sales in 2017 as the company focuses on affordable housing